Tip—For children over two years of age, make screen time a regular, small part of the daily/weekly household routine.

Helen Neville, Pediatric nurse advisor and author of the book Is This a Phase? Child Development & Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years,offers some common-sense advice on how to provide and enforce screen limits.
• Keep the television off except for a few well-chosen programs for children or adults. Don’t use it as background sound. Current viewing patterns in the United States show that the TV is on almost 50 hours per week in the average household. Yikes!
• Don’t put a television or computer in your child’s bedroom. Children don’t have the willpower to leave it off nor do they have the maturity to make good decisions about what or how much to watch. (Currently, 68% of American children have TV’s in their rooms.)
• Don’t use TV or videos as a reward. Instead, make viewing a small part of the daily or weekly routine. Whatever we regularly use as rewards, children want more of—regardless of what it is.

To read the more about young children and screen time click here.
*Copywright Parenting Press, www.Parenting Press.com, reprinted by permission

Homework can have many benefits for young children. It can improve remembering and understanding of schoolwork. Homework can help students develop study skills that will be of value even after they leave school. It can teach them that learning takes place anywhere, not just in the classroom. Homework can benefit children in more general ways as well. It can foster positive character traits such as independence and responsibility. Homework can teach children how to manage time.

Research also shows that parent involvement can have a positive impact on the value of homework. Parent involvement can be used to speed up a child’s learning. Homework can involve parents in the school process. It can enhance parents’ appreciation of education. It can give parents an opportunity to express positive attitudes about the value of success in school.

For detailed tips on how to get the most out of your child’s homework, check out the brochure Homework Tips for Parents, especially pages 6-7-8, from the US Department of Education.

Two-year-olds get a bad rap. Some call them “terrible”. But they are not terrible at all. At this stage, children are making a huge leap in their thinking skills as they are now able to use their imagination and develop lots of their own ideas. Two-year-olds still do not have all the skills or the control over their world they need to follow through on all of their ideas. This naturally leads to anger, confusion and frustration—feelings they do not yet know how to manage very well. So they have a lot of breakdown, fondly known as tantrums.
The good news is there is a lot you can do to help your two-year-old cope, thrive and learn during this exciting year which will be full of lots of No’s from your spirited toddler, but filled with lots of laughter too.
To learn about the many ways you can nurture your 2-year-old’s thinking skills, click here.

This link is provided by Zero to Three, The National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families